In 1962 I along with my late father tried to trace the remains of the Chattenden & Upnor railway from the level crossing at Upnor to pontoon hard on the River Medway this section had been closed for many years and any remains were hard to come by although we did stumble across the A.P.C.M Crown and Quarry Works line at Frindsbury and photographed the remaining steam engines that were still working there, I was unaware at the time that there had originally been a 3' 6" gauge railway here in the 1880s but by 1905 a standard gauge line had been built serving the works area and quarry, the Frindsbury works closed in 1963.. The photo shows the remaining steam engines at Frindsbury in 1962....

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This is a picture I copied from the net the train appears to have just left Chattenden Station the vans behind the diesel locomotive appear to be powder vans they would have had sliding roof hatches, the carriage in the picture is a real gem known as the combination car and was used to convey officers and NCOs it was built by D Wickham of Ware in 1957 (works number 7372) it was divided into three compartments and had a seating capacity for 22 passengers with a guards section with sliding doors on each side and two lookout positions with mirrors braking and sanding gear and a klaxon horn it was lit throughout by twelve volt batteries that were charged by dynamos together with headlights and red lamps at both ends, as far as I know this was the only passenger carriage built by Wickham's and is therefore unique, it still exists today being sold to the Welshpool & Llanfair railway after the Chattenden line closed, it ran at Welshpool for a for a few years before being re-sold to the Ffestioniog Railway in North Wales where it was re-gauged to 2' gauge it now runs on the Ffestioniog & Welsh Highland Railway and is used for maintenance only...

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I'd been curious about this old railway for a long time, and have previously found the remains in Upnor. Having just moved to Chattenden I've been trying to find out more, and discovered this thread. Thanks for all the info and pictures.

When I was out walking the dog a couple of weeks ago, I happened to glance into a small patch of woodland to the right of Lodge Hill Lane as I was walking from Chattenden down towards the entrance to Lodge Hill training area. In amongst the trees I noticed an aging sign in the shadows, most of the lettering worn away, but enough left make out DANGER _________ING from the road. I wondered if the bottom row would have said LEVEL CROSSING.

This morning I went in to have a closer look. Moving around to view the sign from various angles, I am 99% certain that is indeed what the sign says. There is certainly a V in the right place. It occurred to me that perhaps DANGER was overstating it for a level crossing, but as the trains often carried ordnance then perhaps not. Here is the picture I took this morning:

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